by Max

There are times when you simply don’t feel like studying or working. And instead you surf the web, check your email, call your friends or watch endless YouTube videos. You find every excuse to procrastinate.

But those chapters won’t read themselves. The work doesn’t magically get done on its own. Luckily, your friendly neighborhood IRFY, is here to help.

Read on to find out how to get rid of the boredom, become more productive, and finish your tasks.

Because, today you’ll learn how to work with the Pomodoro technique.

What is the Pomodoro technique?

“Pomodoro” is the Italian name for tomato. Francesco Cirillo, the developer of the Pomodoro Technique, used to have a tomato shaped kitchen timer. And its this he named this time management technique after.

This technique was developed to fight procrastination and increase productivity. It is especially useful when it comes to the tasks that require a lot of time to accomplish. Share on X

It uses the time intervals system in breaking a given task or work into small activities of 25 minutes long called the “Pomodoros”. And after every activity there is a break of 3-5 minutes. And this pattern is repeated 4 times before taking a longer break of usually 20 minutes.

Cirilo developed this technique in order to increase productivity while accomplishing a task. It aims at maintaining focus on one specific activity at a time since the brain has a limited attention span.

This is as far as the theoretical part is concerned.

How you can put the Pomodoro technique into practice

#1 Choosing the Task: Before getting into the technique, you need first to choose the task you wish to divide into small activities.

#2 Getting a timer: The core of this technique is about time intervals. So, without a timer, the concept of the Pomodoro cannot be applied correctly.

You can use the classical kitchen timer or bed timer, or you can also use the modern one of your smartphone or laptop. The next thing you should do is to set your timer to 25 minutes.

Customise it – Make it your own

#3 No distractions: While focusing on the current small task, make sure to avoid every unnecessary distraction. Start by turning your phone on airplane mode.

And avoid checking the timer. You will lose your focus while doing so and you will break the current time interval. The purpose of the Pomodoro technique is to maintain clear focus on one task a time, no matter how small it is.

#4 If it rings, you move: When the alarm rings, make sure to stop working on the task and have some rest. It is crucial that you move from the spot you have been working in and do a different activity, as long as it does not exceed 5 minutes. Otherwise, you may lose momentum and might feel bored or tired and not go back to the task.

Try moving around, use the bathroom if you feel the need to, or stretch a little bit in order to regain some energy for the following Pomodoro.

#5 Four Pomodoros = Jackpot: When you finish 4 Pomodoros, you get the chance to take a longer break of 20 minutes. In this break you can do something different like watching a video or calling a friend. Whatever it is that you plan on doing it should not exceed 20 minutes.

When you finish 4 Pomodoros, you get the chance to take a longer break of 20 minutes. In this break you can do something different like watching a video or calling a friend. Whatever it is that you plan on doing it should not exceed 20 minutes.

#6 Inform, Negotiate and Call Back: Francesco Cirillo developed this pattern in order to avoid breaking the Pomodoro cycle. And it comes in handy when someone comes asking for help, and you start feeling that your Pomodoro cycle may get affected. In this case you should simply:

1. Inform them that you are in the middle of something essential that cannot be postponed or delayed.
2. Negotiate with them the time at which you can get back to them and address their needs.
3. Call back when you are finished of all your Pomodoros and have time for it.

#7 Build Momentum: By repeating the Pomodoro cycles over and over again, you will find yourself unconsciously building a momentum. Very time the 25 minutes intervals will seem shorter than before.

You may start increasing the intervals of 25 to 30 or even 50 if you think that you can maintain focus in them. And the result will be more work done without even feeling the slightest boredom.

#8 Make it flexible: The Pomodoro technique is a tool developed to help people to fight procrastination, and become more productive. And it’s a template made to fit your goals.

You can turn the 25-5 intervals into 50-10s or maybe 30-6s. It is always up to you to decide which suits you better according to the attention spans of your brain by noticing how long you can maintain focus on a given activity.

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